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Royal Rumble (2003)
Royal Rumble (2003) was the sixteenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on January 19, 2003, at the Fleet Center in Boston, was the first Royal Rumble produced under the WWE name and employed talent from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania, (in this instance: WrestleMania XIX) for his brand's World title, either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship. The main event was the annual 30-man Royal Rumble match, which included wrestlers from both brands. Brock Lesnar, the twenty-ninth entrant, won the match by last eliminating The Undertaker, the thirtieth entrant. The primary match on the Raw brand was Triple H versus Scott Steiner for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Steiner won by disqualification resulting in Triple H retaining the championship. The most prominent for the SmackDown! brand was between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship, which Angle won by making Benoit submit to the Ankle Lock. The undercard also included a Royal Rumble qualification match between Brock Lesnar and The Big Show, which Lesnar won; he would then go on to win the Rumble match later that night. Production Background The buildup to the Royal Rumble match began on the December 23 episode of Raw, when the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff discussed about the upcoming Royal Rumble match that 15 wrestlers would represent Raw brand and 15 wrestlers would represent SmackDown brand in the match, because it was going to be the first Royal Rumble match to take place after WWE's brand extension. The buildup continued on the January 2 episode of SmackDown, a vignette aired hyping the return of The Undertaker in the Royal Rumble match. Later that night, Paul Heyman announced that Brock Lesnar and Big Show would wrestle in a Royal Rumble qualification match at the Royal Rumble. On the January 6 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels argued over who would be drawing #1 entry in the Royal Rumble match. On the January 13 episode of Raw, a Royal Rumble qualification match took place in which Jeff Hardy defeated Raven. Later that night, Jericho defeated Batista, Kane and Rob Van Dam in an over the top rope Challenge to earn the right choose an entry number of his choice. Jericho chose #2 because #1 was already given to Michaels. Storylines The main feud heading into the event from the SmackDown brand was between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit over the WWE Championship. At Armageddon, Angle defeated Big Show after interference from Brock Lesnar, to win his third WWE Championship. Prior to the event, Angle had promised Lesnar that he would get his suspension lifted if he had helped Angle in defeating Big Show. Angle had also promised to give Lesnar the first title shot after winning the championship. However, despite helping Angle win the title, Lesnar was not given his title shot as on the December 19 episode of SmackDown, Angle announced that he had hired Paul Heyman as his manager and that the two had conspired to get Lesnar reinstated just prior to Armageddon, only to reinforce a stipulation that Heyman had written into Lesnar's contract that he would not receive a title shot if he had lost to Heyman's other client, Big Show, at Survivor Series. Instead, Angle signed to defend against Big Show, who was irate about being used by Heyman and Angle, but went along due to promises made to him by Heyman. Later that night, Angle lost to Benoit in a non-title match by disqualification when Big Show interfered in the match and attacked Benoit. However, Lesnar rescued Benoit from the post-match assault by Angle and Big Show and brutally assaulted Angle, injuring him. As a result of Angle's injury, the SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon cancelled Angle's title match against Big Show and decided that Big Show would wrestle Benoit to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble; Benoit won the match. The main rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between Triple H and Scott Steiner over the World Heavyweight Championship. On October 24, 2002, WWE had announced on its official website that Scott Steiner had signed a three-year contract with WWE. After eight years away, Steiner returned to WWE as a free agent at Survivor Series and attacked Matt Hardy and Christopher Nowinski for insulting New York City. Steiner was approached by the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff and the SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon for their respective brands. He initially decided to join the SmackDown brand but after McMahon rejected Steiner's advances, he moved to the Raw brand. At Armageddon, Triple H defeated Shawn Michaels in a Three Stages of Hell to win the World Heavyweight Championship. On the December 16 episode of Raw, Triple H held an Appreciation Ceremony on winning the title but the ceremony was interrupted by Steiner, who announced that his contract said that he would earn a world title shot. As a result, Steiner and Triple H's match for the World Heavyweight Championship was made official at Royal Rumble. The secondary rivalry heading into the event from the Raw brand was between Lance Storm and William Regal and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) over the World Tag Team Championship. On the December 23 episode of Raw, the Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff forced Raw commentators Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler to wrestle in a tag team match against Storm and Regal for making bad comments against Bischoff. Ross and Lawler defeated Storm and Regal after interference by Dudley Boyz. As a result, on the January 6 episode of Raw, Bischoff forced Dudley Boyz to wrestle 3-Minute Warning (Rosey and Jamal), Rico and Batista in a Handicap match. Storm and Regal avenged their loss by costing the Dudley Boyz the match. Later that night, Storm and Regal defeated Booker T and Goldust for the World Tag Team Championship. This led to a title match between Storm and Regal and Dudley Boyz at Royal Rumble. The secondary rivalry heading into the event from the SmackDown brand was between Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie. At Armageddon, Torrie and Dawn did a lesbian segment in a hotel room. On the December 19 episode of SmackDown, Torrie gave bad remarks about her storyline father Al Wilson on getting married with Dawn. On the January 2 episode of SmackDown, Dawn and Al had their storyline wedding in their undergarments. On the January 9 episode of SmackDown, Josh Mathews announced that Dawn and Torrie would wrestle in a match at Royal Rumble billed as a "Stepmother" vs "Stepdaughter" match. Aftermath Due to winning the Royal Rumble match, Brock Lesnar earned a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. As a result, he began a rivalry with the WWE Champion Kurt Angle. Chris Benoit also continued his rivalry with Angle after losing to him at Royal Rumble. At No Way Out, Lesnar, Benoit and Edge were scheduled to take on Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) in a six-man tag team match, but Edge was injured before the event. As a result, the match became a handicap match but Lesnar and Benoit managed to defeat Team Angle. At WrestleMania XIX, Lesnar defeated Angle to win the WWE Championship. After retaining the World Heavyweight Championship against Scott Steiner by getting disqualified, Triple H continued his rivalry with Steiner over the title. On the February 3 episode of Raw, Steiner became the number one contender for the title by defeating Chris Jericho. At No Way Out, Triple H defeated Steiner to retain the title. Results Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Royal Rumble Category:Royal Rumble Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2003 Pay-Per-View Events